<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Partners by squiggid</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24458410">Partners</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/squiggid/pseuds/squiggid'>squiggid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Snapshots of the Karasuno Boys [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Friend Break Up, Intense Best Friendships With Kissing, Loneliness, M/M, Season 2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:33:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,038</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24458410</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/squiggid/pseuds/squiggid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, when Hinata and Kageyama are on the court, it’s like their minds are linked. All they need is one glance at each other, one silent nod, and they understand what the other wants, what the other needs.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Snapshots of the Karasuno Boys [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1798606</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>97</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Partners</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“Come game time, I kinda can tell what he’s thinking. For the first time, I felt like I had a partner instead of just a friend.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Hinata shuts his eyes tight and pedals harder on his bike. Maybe it was premature of him to tell something so personal to the new manager on the team, and especially to a girl—but it’s true. Sometimes, when he and Kageyama are on the court, it’s like their minds are linked. All they need is one glance at each other, one silent nod, and they understand what the other wants, what the other needs.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Which is exactly why it’s so frustrating and heartbreaking that Kageyama isn’t on his side for this. He has to get better. He knows he can get better. He knows Kageyama can help him. But for once, ever since they joined the team, Kageyama’s not supporting him anymore.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">It doesn’t just feel like he lost a friend. It feels like he lost half of himself.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Gritting his teeth, Hinata turns the bike and starts peddling away from his house. He heads to a place of shared memories with his rival, where the two have raced to after eating too many pork buns and then lay exhausted on the floor before their hands started to roam and their bodies found their ways to the bed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">After a persistent knock, Kageyama opens the door of his house.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">He’s scowling, just like he was back at the gym, just like he always is, but with a bit more venom than usual.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“What do you want, moron?” Kageyama demands.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“Let me in.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“It’s late.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“Let me in.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Scoffing under his breath, Kageyama steps back to let Hinata in. They head into Kageyama’s room, where he closes the door behind them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“What do you want?” Kageyama demands again.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“We can do it,” Hinata insists. “I know we can.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“I don’t care if we can do it—we shouldn’t do it.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“Why not?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“You’re unbelievably bad at receiving and serving. You should focus on that.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“I don’t want to do that.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“What the hell do you—”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“I want to do this with you!” Hinata exclaims, grabbing the front of Kageyama’s shirt.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Hinata allows a second for clarity to wipe over Kageyama’s eyes before he brings their mouths together. They’ve kissed plenty of times before, but it’s never been like this. Hinata’s never tried to pour so much of his thoughts and feelings into the kiss, desperately hoping that Kageyama understands how he’s feeling.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“I can do this,” Hinata whispers against Kageyama’s mouth.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“That’s not... the issue,” Kageyama mutters.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“You can do this.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“That’s... also not the issue.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“Trust me,” Hinata begs, pulling Kageyama closer. “Please.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Kageyama rests his forehead against Hinata’s and sighs deeply.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">—</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">They rarely talk throughout the training camp. Ever since that fight, it feels like they’re on different levels, in different worlds. When they lock eyes, the immediate wordless communication they’re used to is no longer there.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">It’s achingly lonely.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">—</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">It’s the last day of camp. With their heaps of losses and their floundering team synchronization, the team’s motivation should be at an all-time low. But an addicting energy is seeping out of every single one of them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Kageyama can feel it. He can see it. He sees everything in slow motion, every dash, every dive, every jump. Every action moves around him and is also an extenuation of him.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">He can feel it especially with Hinata. Their chemistry has been so off ever since that fight, but here, now, it’s like there’s a fluid, open channel between them. Hinata looks at him, and Kageyama sees his own reflection in Hinata’s eyes. They’re a part of each other. They’re inseparable.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">It’s time.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">The ball touches his fingers. There’s a moment of hesitation, but, with a spark, he feels Hinata’s sharp disapproval and his overwhelming belief, so he pushes the ball forward, just enough push, just enough pull, just enough so that it falls right in front of Hinata’s little hand for it to come smashing down.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">The ball lands on the other side of the net with a smack to the ground.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">The air is tingling with electricity. Disbelief rings through Kageyama’s ears as he tries to remember how to breathe.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">And then Hinata’s looking at him with a smile so wide it almost bursts off his face. Kageyama hears a triumphant yell before he realizes it’s from him—no, not just him: him and Hinata.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“You really are amazing!” Hinata exclaims.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Kageyama can’t bring himself to smile. This dumbass, this floundering idiot with boundless enthusiasm, makes him feel more than just happiness. Hinata makes him feel like anything’s possible, like they can take on anything the world throws at them as long as they’re together.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Hinata makes Kageyama feel like he’ll never be alone again—on the court or otherwise.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">After the match, as the team is filing away into the van, Kageyama hooks an arm around Hinata’s neck and pulls the boy to his chest.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“Ow—Kageyama, what are you—”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">They can’t do much, since they’re in public. So Kageyama just leans down to the flop of orange hair and mumbles into it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">“Thank you.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">For believing in him. For believing in them. For always being there to drive him forward. For being the incessant blinding light to his lonely darkness.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Hinata stills and then finally wriggles free from Kageyama’s choke hold. He doesn’t move back, though; he throws out his arms to wrap tightly around Kageyama’s chest. Annoyed that the idiot would be so obvious after Kageyama tried to be inconspicuous, he hisses for him to stop, but it’s only after Hinata manages to sneak in a quick kiss to his neck that he finally lets go.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">There’s a brief awful sense of loss when Hinata leaves, but as soon as Kageyama feels it, Hinata turns around and grins at him. It’s that smile that lets Kageyama know that Hinata will always be there to support him and believe in him. He’ll always be there to chase away any doubts Kageyama has. He’ll always be there knowing exactly how Kageyama feels and what he’s thinking without having to say a word.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Because they’re teammates.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s2">Because they’re partners.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>